The Blackbird = La Merle (TEFC)

Norman McLaren imparts unusual activity to an old French-Canadian nonsense song. Simple white cut-outs on pastel backgrounds provide lively illustrations. The folksong, (Mon Merle), is sung in French by the Trio Lyrique of Montreal. This, the only white blackbird in creation, is a wonderful amalgam of Buster Keaton, Marcel Marceau and McLaren.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Norman McLaren

production company

ONF | NFB

Duration

00:05:00:00

Production places

Canada

Production dates

1958

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

319703

Language

English

Subject categories

Animation

Animation → Animated films - Canada

Short films

Short films → Short films - Canada

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/95533--the-blackbird-la-merle-tefc/ |title=The Blackbird = La Merle (TEFC) |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=15 September 2026 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Canada, 1958

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